Library worker suspended over squirrel rescue effort

She tried to save animal trapped in ceiling.

She tried to save animal trapped in ceiling.

December 02, 2005

MICHIGAN CITY (AP) -- Spending too much of her time at work trying to rescue a squirrel led to a library worker being suspended from her job. Cindee Goetz said she was suspended last week after she contacted a friend who owns an animal-removal business about the squirrel trapped in the ceiling of a LaPorte County Public Library branch. She said she did so after a company hired by the library stopped using a non-kill trap and moved to a kill trap. "It's a real pickle to be in, all over me being compassionate toward animals," Goetz said. "They said I went around the chain of command. I was paying more attention to the animal than I was my job." Judy Hamilton, the library's executive director, said the suspension followed other animal problems with Goetz and that the library had to be most concerned about the safety of its visitors and the possible cost of damage by the squirrel. "I don't want that squirrel to die, either, but I can't allow a live animal to be headquartered in that building," Hamilton said. "It's a severe situation I can't ignore. I'm not running a squirrel condominium here." Goetz said that she was reprimanded last year for caring for an abandoned bird during work breaks while keeping it in a garage at the library branch in LaPorte. Goetz, who owns an animal shelter, said she planned to return to her job after the one-week suspension. "I don't make a lot, and whatever I make that's expendable goes toward helping animals," she said. "But I'm dedicated to doing it."